


littlething

by paperxvalentines



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: AU, Christmas Eve, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, accountant!Calum, just a cute and pointless oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 13:32:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4061863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperxvalentines/pseuds/paperxvalentines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calum was too oblivious and Luke was too subtle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	littlething

**Author's Note:**

> loosely based on the song Littlething by Jimmy Eat World, which you can listen to [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvMKIF-AdR4). After a long battle with writer's block, this song came down like an angel and granted me inspiration. This is my first time posting on AO3, so I hope you all like this!! :-)

"I'll see you tomorrow, man. Don't overwork yourself, yeah?"

Calum looked up from his laptop screen at Ashton, and nodded. "Don't worry. I'll be out before midnight."

"It's Christmas Eve, Calum," Ashton reminded him, giving him a friendly smile before shrugging his blazer on and leaving Calum's office room with a slight wave.

As soon as the door snapped shut behind the sandy-haired man, Calum was right back at it, typing away on his computer. He didn't have any family to spend the night with anyways, and he had declined all invitations to Christmas parties hosted by his colleagues. He just wanted to work, and get his mind off of his current social situation: three friends, out of which one he may or may not be in love with. It was eating away at him, but he couldn't possibly do anything about it. It was just a little thing, anyways, buried under all the other things in his life.

But now that he had let thoughts of the blond into his mind, they wouldn't leave. Calum sighed, leaning back in his desk chair and running a hand through his brown locks, looking out of the large window to his left. On the window sill were two drooping plants, but at that time, he couldn't be bothered about them. He looked past them, onto the street outside. The sun had almost completely set, seeing as it was a winter night and the sun seemed eager to part with the cold weather. The street-light bordering the street was shining, an artificial orange light that Calum had grown accustomed to, due to his many late nights. The street was devoid of people, rather unusual for this time of night, but it made sense, given the circumstances. There couldn't be that many others in the same situation as him. People had families and friends they wanted to be with. Calum only had one person he wanted to be with, and somehow, the fact that they shouldn't be alone on Christmas Eve eluded him.

With a weary sigh, he turned back to the laptop shining in his face. He ignored the framed photo beside the screen, willing himself to not look at it out of fear of caving. He wasn't going to cave; he wasn't going to call. He couldn't. It would mortify him, and he couldn't risk losing one of the only friends he had in this strange town that he had been calling home for the past seven years.

One would think that seven years would be enough to form a social circle, to have friends and be willing to spend time with them. But no, Calum just wasn't sociable. He had met Luke and Michael through Ashton, one of his colleagues and the first person who had talked to him when he joined the office. Sure, he spoke to his other colleagues and would sometimes see them outside of the office, but it would never go further than a cup of coffee and maybe a mediocre croissant from the sketchy cafe only a block away from the building. Other than that, he really only just spent time with Ashton, Michael (and his significant other of the season), and Luke.

 _Luke_. Just the name made his heart pang. Calum didn't know what it was about the blond that made him so endearing. It couldn't possibly be his uncanny ability to trip over every single table leg, or his stupid lip ring that he had outgrown years ago but still kept in. Or maybe it _was_ just that. Maybe it was Luke's inability to quite grow up or fit in that made Calum adore him so much.

Luke worked for a concert venue in the city, something to do with the stage set-up and lighting. Calum wasn't quite sure what his position was, but he knew that it was something completely different from what Calum did. It wasn't a boring desk job at an accounting firm, complete with wilting plants at the windowsill and paper clips lying all over the desk. It was something fresh, something exciting... Something Calum could never live up to.

Another heavy sigh shook Calum's chest as he plundered on, pushing his thoughts aside as he put numbers in and took them out of his spreadsheets. To the untrained eye, it could look rather arbitrary, but he knew exactly what he was doing. He had been doing it for seven years, after all, as soon as he was out of uni with a Masters in finance under his belt and ambitions clouding his better judgement. He had flown across the globe for this job, leaving everything he knew and had ever known for it, so he'd better hope he was good at it.

He had been working for a good half hour uninterruptedly when his phone had gone off. Looking at it curiously, his heart did an embarrassing little flip when he read the caller ID. He saved his work before picking up, glancing at the time as he did so: 8:12pm.

"Hello?" He asked into the little device, knowing fully well who was on the other end of the line.

"Calum." Luke's voice was easy, joyful. "Come have dinner with me. I know you're still at work."

"Maybe I'm home," Calum teased, but they both knew he was just being playful.

"Come on, Cal. Let's hang out. We're both alone tonight, might as well, right?"

Calum glanced over at the spreadsheet on his computer screen, then at the various Post Its that seemed to line everything he owned, before giving Luke a slight sigh. "Okay. Give me a minute to pack up my stuff."

"Of course," Luke answered, and Calum just _knew_ he was sporting a smug grin. "See you in five, downstairs."

"Yep." And the line went dead.

Calum set his phone down on his desk, ran his hands over his face, before standing up. He saved his document again before shutting down his laptop, and while it did so, he packed away his planner and his stack of documents into the brown leather messenger bag his mother had given him right before he left Sydney. The leather was worn on the strap where it rested on his shoulder, and the buckle's colour had faded from a shining silver to a dull black, but Calum never bothered to get himself a new one. He liked this one too much to part with it. Plus, it was a little piece of Sydney he had been able to keep with him.

Finally, the screen of his laptop went black, so he closed the lid and slid it into his bag, fastening the buckle before sliding it onto his shoulder. He grabbed his phone and his keys, pocketing the two items, and with one final glance at the photo frames on his desk, he walked towards the door, flipped the lights off, and began making his way to the elevator. It came quickly, seeing as there was basically no one else in the building other than him and maybe a few younger staff people scattered around. He stepped into the metal box, lined with mirrors, punching the L button on the panel before leaning against one of the mirrors as the heavy doors slid shut and he began moving downwards.  


He stepped out of the elevator and walked down the lobby quickly, pausing momentarily to wish the secretary a good night and a merry Christmas, before pushing the glass doors open and stepping out into the cool air. He was immediately hit with a frigid gust of wind, and noted that he definitely wasn't wearing weather appropriate clothes.

"Hey," a voice murmured from beside him, and he jumped, prompting Luke to laugh, a muffled noise that got caught in the soft silk of the blue scarf Calum recognised as his birthday gift to the blond. "It's cold. Let's go."

The two of them walked down the sidewalk quietly, their silence mainly due to the cold. They walked a couple blocks before reaching their favourite Mexican restaurant, miraculously open on Christmas Eve. Calum held the door open for Luke and allowed himself a soft smile at the sound of the other man's giggle.

They stepped inside and sat down at their regular booth, immediately met with a friendly waiter and two menus.

"Don't even have to look at these, I know what I want," Luke shrugged, closing it and beginning to work on taking his scarf off. "How was work?"

Calum almost let out a laugh at that. Luke always asked, even though he had no idea what Calum was talking about most of the time. "You know, the same." He shrugged, closing his menu as well. "I don't even know what I do half the time. Did you go in today?"

Luke smiled, shaking his head. "No one interesting plays Christmas Eve. They didn't need me, so might as well just stay home."

The waiter came back around and they ordered their regular, handing the menus back to the young man with thanks.

"You live an easy life, Hemmings," Calum told him fondly, taking off his blazer and putting it down on the bench beside him, over his bag.

"So I've been told, especially by you. And my mum... She called today, surprisingly."

Calum frowned a little. "Don't be like that. Your mum's lovely."

Luke sighed, running a hand through the quiff that would look terrible on any other man their age. "I know, it's just a bit weary. She gave me the same lecture about needing to settle down and start a family. I'm just- It's not a good time right now, you know?"

Calum nodded understandingly. His mother had called him in the morning and had given him the same lecture when he told her that he had no plans for the night. "Yeah, I know."

"It's not that I don't want to, ever," Luke sighed, playing with the ring on his pinky finger absently as he looked at Calum, "but just not right now. I mean, I'd have to find someone actually interested in me first, which is not easy to come by in the first place, and especially so when you've got your sights set on someone in particular..."

"Oh, yeah, how's that going?" Calum asked, swallowing the lump in his throat. Luke often talked about a specific person he worked with and how much he'd like them to get the hints he'd been dropping for the past month.

"Nowhere," Luke laughed, self-deprecation evident in the tone of it. "He's not getting it. Don't blame him, really..."

Calum gave the other a tight-lipped smile. "It'll work itself out."

"Yeah," Luke smiled, giving Calum a slight head tilt. "I hope so."

—

They had spent the meal talking, but on the cab ride home, they said nothing. Luke had the window down and his eyes shut against the glacial wind, a carefree smile on his face.  
Looking down onto the plastic seat between the two of them, Calum noted the closeness of their hands. There couldn't have been more than five centimeters between their pinky fingers.

Calum's eyes trailed up Luke's arm, his leather jacket, the blue scarf with one end blowing in the wind, and finally reached his content face. The brunet smiled fondly, a secret thing reserved solely for moments like these. Looking back down at their hands, he inched his closer to Luke's, before biting the inside of his lower lip. This would give a name to whatever was hanging in the air between them, for better or for worse.

A slight sigh accompanied Calum pulling his hand away and bringing it to rest in his lap. Nothing would change tonight.

—

"You should come in."

The suggestion was a tentative one, as if Luke expected Calum to say no, which he was about to, but one look into Luke's eyes was enough to change his mind. "Alright."  
Calum paid the cabbie, and the two of them exited. They entered the familiar apartment building and made their way quickly to the second floor, where Luke unlocked and held open the door for Calum. Stepping inside the warm apartment, taking off their bags and jackets was only a reflex at this point, a habit.

Calum loosened his tie as he followed Luke into the kitchen, after the two of them had kicked their shoes off in the hallway. The blond handed him a green glass bottle of beer and they barely made it into the living room before flopping down onto the battered couch. Luke clicked the television on as Calum clicked open his bottle, taking a swig from it before letting out a content sigh and sinking down into the worn fabric of the red couch.

They watched the random tv show in silence before Luke chuckled to himself, and Calum gave him a concerned look. "You good, mate?"

"Yeah," Luke chuckled, lazily turning his head that was resting against the back of the couch to look over at Calum. "Never thought I'd be in a situation like this."

"In a situation like what?" Calum wasn't getting it. Maybe it was the intoxicating way the blond was looking at him, a lazy smile draped across his lips and his chin tilted forward ever so slightly.

"It's Christmas Eve, and I'm- We're alone while all our friends are probably partying or being all festive with their families. We're drinking cheap beer and watching a ridiculous reality tv show, at... At 10pm. Oh my god, we're getting old."

Calum laughed at the melodramatic look on his friend's face, imitating his position and sinking lower down the couch so that both their legs were sprawled out in front of them. "Hey, it's better than being alone alone. As in you sitting here and me sitting in my apartment, watching tv by ourselves."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Luke gave Calum a final smile before bringing the bottle back to his lips and directing his attention once again to the television.

Calum finished his bottle quickly, and was mentally debating whether or not to get another one before Luke spoke up again. "Calum... Do you ever get scared?"  
"All the time," Calum murmured in response, thinking back to the incident in the taxi. "Why?"

"No, I mean-" Luke grumbled, placing his bottle on the floor and sitting up straight on the couch. "I mean, do you ever get scared of the future? As in scared of what's gonna happen?" Luke looked ashamed and angry at himself, prompting Calum to sit up straighter and put on a concerned face. "For god's sake, we're almost 30, and I'm still scared for my future. I know that eventually down the line I wanna settle down with someone, get a place with them - not something huge, but a nice flat big enough for a couple dogs - and maybe have a family. But the way things are going with me on the romantic front is just so... So discouraging, Cal. And right now, I know I said I wasn't interested in finding someone just yet, but it would be nice, you know?"

"Luke," Calum sighed, reaching a hand out to rest it on Luke's shoulder. He squeezed once, leaving it there to comfort his friend. "Everything's gonna figure itself out. You're gonna meet someone perfect for you, someone who-" Calum fought off a blush as the thoughts materialised in his brain. "Someone who needs only look at you to see all the good things in the world, who sees all the stars and constellations just by looking into your eyes. Who's absolutely in love with every single aspect of you, even the flaws you fail to look past."

Silence fell upon the two of them, and Calum was quick to pull his arm away when realisation sank in. He looked down at the floor before shrugging. "Remember, right before you got your job? You were so worried about getting one in the first place. And now look, you've gotten a promotion and you love it. Some things just take time."  


Luke was quiet when he answered with "I suppose so."

They were quiet for another beat before Calum began fumbling over his words. "I- Maybe- I think I should leave."

He could feel Luke's questioning gaze, and met it with a smile, feigning oblivion and trying to ignore the embarrassment that was making his heart thud and his cheeks turn crimson.

Luke didn't say anything when Calum got up to throw away his bottle and grab his stuff. He didn't say anything while Calum laced up the black shoes, nor while he shrugged on his blazer.

Calum was about to call out a good bye, turning around to make sure the sound of it carried into the living room, but almost jumped when he saw Luke standing there, under the doorway that led to the living room. He was leaning forward against it, fingers wrapping around the corner of the wall and teeth tugging at his lip ring.

"See you tomorrow, Luke." Calum smiled, about to swing his bag over his shoulder and turn around to leave the apartment when a murmur stopped him in his tracks.

"Could you stay with me tonight?"

With a curious frown, Calum tilted his head at where Luke was now standing, directly in front of Calum. He had one hand in another and one foot on top of the other, the embodiment of shyness.

"Stay?" The word seemed foreign as it rolled off of Calum's tongue, although it shouldn't have been. He had crashed in Luke's guest room and on Luke's couch too many times to count.

Somehow the words seemed so different tonight. They seemed heavier, the implications suddenly that much more personal and intimate.

Luke nodded, his blue eyes glimmering with hope but mainly seeming frightful. "I just don't think you should wake up alone on Christmas morning. Plus... I'd like it if you stayed."

At that, Calum allowed himself a smile. He put his bag back down and kicked off his shoes once again, hanging his blazer up as Luke smiled. In a way, this was Luke accepting Calum's words, allowing and even inviting the brunet to speak more about his eyes and the good things about him.

They quickly regained their previous positions on the couch, but nothing was the same as it had been mere minutes ago. Words could change everything, Calum realised, and the realisation gave him slight hope.

"Is it true?" Luke asked, almost immediately after they had gotten settled.

One would think Calum would get fed up of Luke's vague questions after a while, but that had yet to happen. "Is what true, Luke?"

"Do you actually think someone will, one day, look at me and see all these amazing things you said?"

Calum looked over at his friend, gaze trailing along his perfectly sculpted features before returning to the bright blue eyes he had all but fallen in love with. "Yeah." He nodded. "Most definitely."

"Do-" The blond gulped, eyes trailed on Calum's lips, and Calum could see how his chest was heaving. "Do _you_ see those things?"

"Yeah. I do." For something that Calum had fussed over and worried about for almost a year, the admission was easy. It was light, as if it was already obvious. And maybe it had been. Calum might never know.

Luke broke out into a smile, surging forward. One hand on Calum's cheek, the other grasping his fingers, Luke's lips easily found their way to Calum's. The kiss was soft, soft, soft, as if sprinkled with icing sugar. Their lips moved so slowly against one another's, but every brush seemed to feel better than the previous.  


Calum hooked his fingers around Luke's wrist, tilting his head to the side as their kiss deepened the slightest bit. How they had ended up here, he had no clue, but he wasn't about to complain about it.

When they pulled apart, everything felt so fragile. The atmosphere had changed into something so quiet and careful, so unsure. He almost felt like he was treading on thin ice, hoping it didn't crack and give way under his bare soles.

"I see all those things in you, too." And those words were enough, apparently, to change the whole mood. Calum's breathing seemed to ease up and flow freely, and his face curled up into a big smile easily. "I always have, Calum."

Calum pressed his forehead against the blond's, eyes fluttering shut as a smile took over his face, a sense of warmth filling his body and making him feel at home, making him feel needed. He had yet to wrap his mind around this whole situation.

"Come on, let's go to bed," Luke murmured, pressing a last kiss to Calum's lips before standing up, turning off the tv, and extending a hand to the brunet who was still in a daze.

Calum eagerly took the hands, hoisting himself up, and followed Luke to his bedroom. There, the blond tossed him a pair of pyjamas and the two of them changed in a rush before sliding under the bedsheets.

Their bodies seemed to know exactly how to react to each other's touch. Calum pulled Luke close by the waist, and Luke wrapped one arm around Calum, the other one finding his hand and twining their fingers. It was just close proximity, really, but it felt like so much more. It felt like he had found what he had been subconsciously searching for.

The silence that surrounded them was a calm one, contrasting their incident on the couch, but Calum still had something to say. "I didn't know you felt this way," he murmured into Luke's blond hair, eyes shut out of fear that this was all just a dream.

"All this time, Cal, it was you," Luke answered, his breath warm against the brunet's neck. "There was never a guy at work. It was always you."

Calum smiled at that, a kiss pressed into Luke's hair enough to convey how he was feeling. "I was right always here, Lukey. All you had to do was say the words."

"Well, I'm glad you did it, then, because I knew I would never have gotten them out properly."

There was not much else to say. The two of them were content, being like this with one another. Calum thought back to earlier in the office, how he was so reluctant to look at the photo of his friends and him, framed on his desk, and chuckled light-heartedly. He would never have guessed that tonight would put a name to the way he had been feeling towards Luke for so long. Sitting there in his room, all alone with nothing but his laptop screen for company seemed like a distant daydream.

Maybe Luke and Calum didn't have to spend Christmas Eve all alone. Maybe they could just be alone together, and maybe that was quite alright.


End file.
